If Asked I'll Lie
by HeaRTsTRinGz
Summary: First story I've decided to write. I don't know if I'll continue it or not but here it is. It's a type of girl next door story where a girl makes a guy come out of his shell and look at the world in a different way. Negative and Positive reviews welcome


If Asked I'll Lie

By: Ilias Heartstringz McTaggart ( IHM )

Part 1

The bell rang at West Brooks High School, signalling the start of the last school day before the break for Jared Finch. He had been up late the night before so he was dreading the thought of sitting through the whole school day and not falling asleep in the middle of it. He survived through his two morning classes before his lunch break during which his friends Marissa and Melanie were talking about the school dance that was happening later on that night. Jared was not planning on attending because he found social gatherings with a lot of people he doesn't know extremely uncomfortable. So he allowed his friends to talk about the dance and said nothing for the rest of the lunch period. He slept through his French class with no concern as since he was already fluent in the language he was not worried about his sleeping impeding his success in the course. After his nap he felt awake and refreshed and breezed through his next and last class of the day.

After class he went straight home, he made a habit of doing this as he felt there was no point in staying in a place with people he didn't know and/or care about. On his way home in the bus he said nothing to anyone and just stared out the window the whole ride until he got home.

When he got home he went straight to his room opened his laptop and started to browse the internet and stare at FB, a new social networking website. He was about to close his computer and go downstairs for food when he heard a slight ring come from his computer. He looked back at his computer and saw that Marissa was messaging him. He opened the message and she told him he had to go to the dance with her. He said no initially but after a small procession of begging on Marissa's part he said yes and got ready to go to the dance as it started in thirty minutes.

Once back inside the school he could hear the loud music emanating from the cafeteria-turned dance hall. He walked across the school foyer and entered the room and saw a large amount of people dancing. "Dancing", describing what they were doing as dancing amused Jared as he was a dancer and what he did looked nothing like what he was seeing. He scanned the room and after a little while found Marissa and Melanie dancing, Marissa with a partner, and Melanie by herself. Upon seeing him Melanie grabbed Jared and started dancing with him. Being his ex-girlfriend from a year prior the two had come to become friends and so Jared thought nothing of it and started dancing. After a while they stopped and Melanie and Marissa found new partners. Jared looked around the room and saw some girls from his French class that he talked to so he walked over and said hi to the group. They talked for a little while and then as the song ended he said his "see you later" to the group. But as he was turning around to leave the group to his right he saw something that made his heart stop, a beautiful girl with purple eyes and an even more beautiful smile. Jared smiled at her and awkwardly sped walked away as he was afraid of embarrassing himself in front of her. On his way back to his friends he could not help but constantly look over his shoulder at the girl.

When he arrived at his friends location he bumped into one of them because he was not paying any attention to what was happening in front of him and was still staring at the girl.

"What's wrong?" Marissa asked.

Jared paused for a second, paying no attention to Marissa.

"Jared, what's wrong?" Marissa repeated with a hint of concern in her voice.

"uhmmm… Nothing… I'm fine, why? What's up?" Jared responded, barely paying attention to his friends or their increasing worry for his unusual behavior.

"You're acting a little weird… what did you see?" asked Melanie.

"A girl… I don't know why… but I really want to talk to her… and my chest feels a little funny…" Jared said, still barely involved in the conversation.

He felt a quick gust of wind behind him and then felt a hand slap the back of his head. He tucked in, placed his hand over the area he was just hit by his ex-girlfriend, and turned around to face her. "What the hell was that for?" he asked.

"Don't scare us. We thought something was wrong with you, you dumbass!" Melanie exclaimed.

"Sorry, wasn't paying attention."

"Anyways go and talk to her!"

"WHAT? Why would I do that I'll just embarrass myself and she'll think I'm an absolute idiot. I'll just pass this up as indigestion."

"You're an idiot." Melanie stared, clearly annoyed, "Just go over there. Even if you don't talk to her you know the people she's with. That might help." She then turned him around and pushed him in the girl's direction. After she stopped pushing him he started to walk over by himself. He stood beside the girl and stared talking to the group, still very conscious of how close he was to her and also conscious of how nervous that made him feel. After a while a small circle opened up in front of the stage where people were going in and dancing. Jared decided to enter it a dance with another break-dancer he met recently named Patrick.

After a while the circle dissipated and he returned to the girls group. He again made sure he was standing beside the girl. Almost right away the girl turned to him and said, "Does your mom work at Valtruse Hospital?"

Slightly taken aback he looked at her and said, "Yea…"

She then said, "Uhm, is your name Jared?"

Even more surprised he said, "Yea, how'd you know."

"You probably don't remember me but we met at a volunteering thing in grade 9"

His eyes opened up and he remembered volunteering with a girl and her sister. He said, "Yea I remember you, we volunteered with your sister at that hospital picnic. But… sorry I forgot your name. I'm terrible with names…"

"I'm Claire." She said with a smile.

After that they started talking about what happened between the years they hadn't seen each other and Jared thanked the gods that something like this happened. After what felt like ten minutes of talking he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled out his phone, opened and looked and, much to his dismay, saw a text message from his mother saying she was there and waiting for him outside. He turned to Claire and said that his ride was there and that he had to go. He went found Marissa and Melanie, told them his mom was there and that they should come with him if they wanted a lift home.

While walking away he looked back and saw the girl. He bottled up all his courage and walked back over to her and asked for her e-mail address. She gave it to him and then she hugged him and they said their good-byes.

He dropped off Melanie, then he dropped off Marissa, then went home. He fell asleep thinking about Claire and how he wished he could have talked with her longer…


End file.
